Holding device for blankets



E. s. STEVENS. HOLDING DEVICE FOR BLANKETS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I4. I92'0.

Emme ,.Sferm 5f:-

UNITED STATES EMME S. STEVENS, F LANSDOWNE, PENNSYLVANIA.

HOLDING DEVICE FOR BLANKETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 15, 1921.

Application filed February 14, 1920. Serial No. 358,633.

I T 0 @ZZ/whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, EMME S. STEvENs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lansdowne, in the county of Delaware and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Holding D evice for Blankets, of which the following 1s a specification.

.My invention relates to devices iused for retaining a cover in position, notwithstanding the movement of the occupant of the bed.

The purpose of my invention is to 'provide an elastic strap and to connect it to. a cover at intervals in the length of the elastic.

A further purpose is to pucker the cover between the connecting points, so as to permit stretching of the interveningparts of the strap without stretching of thecover.

A further purpose is to provide for movement of any part of a cover sidewise, with movements of the occupant, and to return the cover to position when the movement of the occupant has ceased.

A further purpose is to make the cover itself form a pocket to prevent a child from getting its feet out under the strap, bringing the cover back to initial position after each efort'to dislodge it.

Further purposes will appear in the specification and in the claims.

I have preferred to illustrate my inven= tion by one form only, selecting .a form which has proved in use to be practical, eilicient, sanitary, thoroughly reliable and inexpensive, and which, at the same time, well illustrates the principles of my invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective of a crib, and bedding with al baby in the ycrib and showing-my invention applied to the cover.

Fig. 2 is a broken side elevation of the structure seen in Fig. l with part of the crib side removed.

Fig. 3 is a broken perspective view of a portion of the 4cover with a retaining strap partly thrown back to illustrate the parts.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the cover and strap taken through one of the Jfastening devices.

Figj is a broken side elevation showing the edge of the cover and strap at the side of the bed. v

Fig. 6 is a broken longitudinal cross-section of the strap shown in the other figures.

In the drawing similar numerals illustrate like parts.

A great deal of difficulty has been eXperienced by mothers in keeping babies covered 1n bed. This is due not only to the turning and twisting of the baby in its sleep or awake, which tends to pull the covers out at oneside and pile them up unduly at the other side of the fbaby, but to the very general habit of babies of pushing upwardly with their feet to try to get the feet from under the cover or under any holding strapy which may be used; with the result that the baby becomes entirely uncovered. My invention is intended to take care of the first of these diiiiculties by fastening a holding strap to the cover at intervals across the top of the cover using an elastic strap which allows stretching in between the fastening points and causes the strap and cover to resume their relative position, when any pull upon them hasr relaxed.

, rlhe second difficulty is taken care of by me by the same means, since there are not suflicient distances between the points of attachment for the baby to be able to get its feet under the cover free from the strap, and the effort pulls the cover up over the top of the strap and automatically forms a pocket `which guides the babys feet past the strap and avoids danger of getting the feet under the strap.

At the same time by the removable chai'- acter of the fastening, I am enabled to remove the strap with its rubber -or other elastic provision in it, so that the cover (ordinarily a blanket because of the greater suitability of a blanket for this purpose) may be washed without washing the strap. Theonly way in which the cover is altered for Washing purposes. is that it requires some fastening devices upon it which are put on in the form of a strip or tape carrying the fastening devices. This presents advantages not only in the washing but commercially in permitting the sale of the strap and the tape ready for attachment and in insuring the proper spacing of the fastening devices. f

f Though the application to a cover for a baby oifers excellent opportunity for use of my invention. l recognize that the invention is suitable for use' in hospitals. for example, upon patients of any age and wherever the restlessness of a patient or other conditions make retention of the covering diiiicult In accordance with the statute I have l shown the best form of my invention, by

any part or all of the.

way of illustration and not in limitation.

In the crib 7 is shown bedding including any cover 8, usually a blanket, and a strap 9 secured to the upper part of the cover and fastened to rings or hooks l0 in any part of the crib, as in the side rails 11. The strap is fastened near. the top of the cover so as preferably to leave a short section of the cover at 12 above the strap to prevent too sharp an edge at the .top and to rovide for a loose portion of the cover .whic shall rest upon the babys neck without bringing any strap pressure to `bear upon it. The cover may extend above the strap as much as desired. Y

The strap is made up of a core 13 of elastic material (by which I mean to include springs or other stretchable constructions,

and not rubber elastic .covered with a decorative ing end portions 15 which need not be elastic and which terminate in hooks or straps or other fastening devices 16 to coperate with the devices 10 in the crib.

Because it is desirable to remove the elastic strap from the covery when the latter is washed or cleaned, I provide for attachment to the cover by means of a tape or other strip 17 and separable fastenin s between the two, shown here as of t e resilient-head-and-socket form, 18 and 19, s0 that the strap may be securely fastened to the cover when in use.

In arranging for the fastenin of the strap to the cover, I space the fstenings carried by the cover by a distance greater than the spacin of the fastenings carried by the strap so t at with the elastic in contracted position the top cover will be relatively puckered as at 20 between `these points, leaving room for stretching of the elastic and corresponding yielding of the cover without stretching across its width 'at any, or all of the points between. Any casing 14 which may be used about the elastic should be correspondingly puckered, gathered or made full, so as to allow full stretching of the elastic to accommodate this local stretchin or stretching over Iength of the strap. As a result of this puckering of the, materia] of thecover between attaching points and the freedom to stretch at any point or throughout the width of the cover with 'retraction not only tion butto the initial positions of the several points of attachment, as the ,baby turns under the covers, the cover will yield slightly and follow the baby a short distance, and then when the baby has quieted the cover will come to rest gradually or alone) preferably casing 14 and havposition, previously occupied `by them and with any to the same general posi- Y more quickly, according to the strength of the elastic selected, with the points of attachment of the elastic strap in the same transversely of the bed, as that initial tension in the strap to which it has been adjusted by buckle 21. At the same time, the eXtra space provided or eXtra material of the cover provided between the several points of attachment leaves the cover without tension and full in width, so that it is free to rest down about the baby and cover it notwithstanding whatever tension may have been placed in the elastic strap. This takes care of all transverse movement.

When the baby attempts to get its feet under the strap as illustrated in Fig. 2, this is prevented by the point-to-point fastening of the cover to the strap, so that there is no extended disengaged part of the cover where 1t can be pulled out by Jthe rst.

I recognize lthat the puckering or gathering of the cover by reason of the difference the push/ing of they babys feet; with the result thatit is held between the spaces of the fastening devices on the top cover and on the belt or band is vadvantageous to give a fullness independf ently as well as in coperation with the elasticity of the belt or band by reason of which local movement and return are provided; also that the elasticity between points of attachment would be desirable even if the stretch of the cover were depended upon to permit the stretching to take'place; and, in general, that these and other features of my invention could be used 1n varlou's ways,

in view of my disclosure herein, to obtain a part only of the benefit of my.l invention, less than the wholeof it and yetvcome within the spirit and scope of my claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new 'and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a cover holding device, a strap in combination with alcover to which itis secured at intervals intermediate the ends of the strap, the length of the strap between these securing points being shorter than the distance between measured along the cover.

2. In a cover holding device,v an elastic strap in combination with a cover to which it is secured at intervals intermediate thev ends of the strap, the length of the strap between these securing points being shorter than the distance between measured along thecover. v 3. Ina cover-holding device, a strap having separable fastener members at intervals throughout a portion of its length in combination with a strip adapted to be secured tothe cover and having coperating separable fastener members spaced at longer distances than the spacing of the members in the strap. i

4. In a cover-holding device', an elastic retaining strap Whose elastic portion extends the greater part of the Width of the bed, in combination with a bed cover to ble fasteners spaced along the elasticl length.

of the strap and cooperating separable Yfastening means having shorter spacing than the spacing of the -fastenings for securing the strap at these points" to the cover and adapted to maintain a fullness in the cover 25 as compared with the strap.

`EMME s.l STEVENS. 

